81 research outputs found
Irradiation of Materials with Short, Intense Ion pulses at NDCX-II
We present an overview of the performance of the Neutralized Drift
Compression Experiment-II (NDCX-II) accelerator at Berkeley Lab, and report on
recent target experiments on beam driven melting and transmission ion energy
loss measurements with nanosecond and millimeter-scale ion beam pulses and thin
tin foils. Bunches with around 10^11 ions, 1-mm radius, and 2-30 ns FWHM
duration have been created with corresponding fluences in the range of 0.1 to
0.7 J/cm^2. To achieve these short pulse durations and mm-scale focal spot
radii, the 1.1 MeV He+ ion beam is neutralized in a drift compression section,
which removes the space charge defocusing effect during final compression and
focusing. The beam space charge and drift compression techniques resemble
necessary beam conditions and manipulations in heavy ion inertial fusion
accelerators. Quantitative comparison of detailed particle-in-cell simulations
with the experiment play an important role in optimizing accelerator
performance.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. revised manuscript submitted to Laser and
Particle Beam
Design and Implementation of a Thomson Parabola for Fluence Dependent Energy-Loss Measurements at the Neutralized Drift Compression eXperiment
The interaction of ion beams with matter includes the investigation of the
basic principles of ion stopping in heated materials. An unsolved question is
the effect of different, especially higher, ion beam fluences on ion stopping
in solid targets. This is relevant in applications such as in fusion sciences.
To address this question, a Thomson parabola was built for the Neutralized
Drift Compression eXperiment (NDCX-II) for ion energy-loss measurements at
different ion beam fluences. The linear induction accelerator NDCX-II delivers
2 ns short, intense ion pulses, up to several tens of nC/pulse, or
10-10 ions, with a peak kinetic energy of ~1.1 MeV and a minimal
spot size of 2 mm FWHM. For this particular accelerator the energy
determination with conventional beam diagnostics, for example, time of flight
measurements, is imprecise due to the non-trivial longitudinal phase space of
the beam. In contrast, a Thomson parabola is well suited to reliably determine
the beam energy distribution. The Thomson parabola differentiates charged
particles by energy and charge-to-mass ratio, through deflection of charged
particles by electric and magnetic fields. During first proof-of-principle
experiments, we achieved to reproduce the average initial helium beam energy as
predicted by computer simulations with a deviation of only 1.4 %. Successful
energy-loss measurements with 1 {\mu}m thick Silicon Nitride foils show the
suitability of the accelerator for such experiments. The initial ion energy was
determined during a primary measurement without a target, while a second
measurement, incorporating the target, was used to determine the transmitted
energy. The energy-loss was then determined as the difference between the two
energies
High deuteron and neutron yields from the interaction of a petawatt laser with a cryogenic deuterium jet
A compact high-flux, short-pulse neutron source would have applications from nuclear astrophysics to cancer therapy. Laser-driven neutron sources can achieve fluxes much higher than spallation and reactor neutron sources by reducing the volume and time in which the neutron-producing reactions occur by orders of magnitude. We report progress towards an efficient laser-driven neutron source in experiments with a cryogenic deuterium jet on the Texas Petawatt laser. Neutrons were produced both by laser-accelerated multi-MeV deuterons colliding with Be and mixed metallic catchers and by d (d,n)³He fusion reactions within the jet. We observed deuteron yields of 10¹³/shot in quasi-Maxwellian distributions carrying ∼ 8 − 10 % of the input laser energy. We obtained neutron yields greater than 10¹⁰/shot and found indications of a deuteron-deuteron fusion neutron source with high peak flux (> 10²² cm⁻² s⁻¹). The estimated fusion neutron yield in our experiment is one order of magnitude higher than any previous laser-induced dd fusion reaction. Though many technical challenges will have to be overcome to convert this proof-of-principle experiment into a consistent ultra-high flux neutron source, the neutron fluxes achieved here suggest laser-driven neutron sources can support laboratory study of the rapid neutron-capture process, which is otherwise thought to occur only in astrophysical sites such as core-collapse supernova, and binary neutron star mergers
Socioeconomic Inequality in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a U.S. Cross-Sectional Study
This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children in the United States is positively associated with socioeconomic status (SES).A cross-sectional study was implemented with data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a multiple source surveillance system that incorporates data from educational and health care sources to determine the number of 8-year-old children with ASD among defined populations. For the years 2002 and 2004, there were 3,680 children with ASD among a population of 557,689 8-year-old children. Area-level census SES indicators were used to compute ASD prevalence by SES tertiles of the population.Prevalence increased with increasing SES in a dose-response manner, with prevalence ratios relative to medium SES of 0.70 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64, 0.76) for low SES, and of 1.25 (95% CI 1.16, 1.35) for high SES, (P<0.001). Significant SES gradients were observed for children with and without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis, and in analyses stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and surveillance data source. The SES gradient was significantly stronger in children with a pre-existing diagnosis than in those meeting criteria for ASD but with no previous record of an ASD diagnosis (p<0.001), and was not present in children with co-occurring ASD and intellectual disability.The stronger SES gradient in ASD prevalence in children with versus without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis points to potential ascertainment or diagnostic bias and to the possibility of SES disparity in access to services for children with autism. Further research is needed to confirm and understand the sources of this disparity so that policy implications can be drawn. Consideration should also be given to the possibility that there may be causal mechanisms or confounding factors associated with both high SES and vulnerability to ASD
Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation
Our experiences can blind us. Once we have learned to solve problems by one method, we often have difficulties in generating solutions involving a different kind of insight. Yet there is evidence that people with brain lesions are sometimes more resistant to this so-called mental set effect. This inspired us to investigate whether the mental set effect can be reduced by non-invasive brain stimulation. 60 healthy right-handed participants were asked to take an insight problem solving task while receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the anterior temporal lobes (ATL). Only 20% of participants solved an insight problem with sham stimulation (control), whereas 3 times as many participants did so (p = 0.011) with cathodal stimulation (decreased excitability) of the left ATL together with anodal stimulation (increased excitability) of the right ATL. We found hemispheric differences in that a stimulation montage involving the opposite polarities did not facilitate performance. Our findings are consistent with the theory that inhibition to the left ATL can lead to a cognitive style that is less influenced by mental templates and that the right ATL may be associated with insight or novel meaning. Further studies including neurophysiological imaging are needed to elucidate the specific mechanisms leading to the enhancement
Mnesic imbalance: a cognitive theory about autism spectrum disorders
Autism is characterized by impairments in social interaction, communicative capacity and behavioral flexibility. Some cognitive theories can be useful for finding a relationship between these irregularities and the biological mechanisms that may give rise to this disorder. Among such theories are mentalizing deficit, weak central coherence and executive dysfunction, but none of them has been able to explain all three diagnostic symptoms of autism. These cognitive disorders may be related among themselves by faulty learning, since several research studies have shown that the brains of autistic individuals have abnormalities in the cerebellum, which plays a role in procedural learning. In keeping with this view, one may postulate the possibility that declarative memory replaces faulty procedural memory in some of its functions, which implies making conscious efforts in order to perform actions that are normally automatic. This may disturb cognitive development, resulting in autism symptoms. Furthermore, this mnesic imbalance is probably involved in all autism spectrum disorders. In the present work, this theory is expounded, including preliminary supporting evidence
Research on Teaching and Learning Mathematics at the Tertiary Level:State-of-the-art and Looking Ahead
This topical survey focuses on research in tertiary mathematics education, a field that has experienced considerable growth over the last 10 years. Drawing on the most recent journal publication as well as the latest advances from recent high quality conference proceedings, our review culls out the following five emergent areas of interest: mathematics teaching at the tertiary level; the role of mathematics in other disciplines; textbooks, assessment and students’ studying practices; transition to the tertiary level; and theoretical-methodological advances. We conclude the survey with a discussion of some potential ways forward for future research in this new and rapidly developing domain of inquiry
Versatile tape-drive target for high-repetition-rate laser-driven proton acceleration – CORRIGENDUM
Versatile tape-drive target for high-repetition rate laser-driven proton acceleration
We present the development and characterization of a high-stability, multi-material, multi-thickness tape-drive target for laser-driven acceleration at repetition rates of up to 100 Hz. The tape surface position was measured to be stable on the sub-micrometre scale, compatible with the high-numerical aperture focusing geometries required to achieve relativistic intensity interactions with the pulse energy available in current multi-Hz and near-future higher repetition-rate lasers ( >kHz). Long-term drift was characterized at 100 Hz demonstrating suitability for operation over extended periods. The target was continuously operated at up to 5 Hz in a recent experiment for 70,000 shots without intervention by the experimental team, with the exception of tape replacement, producing the largest data-set of relativistically intense laser–solid foil measurements to date. This tape drive provides robust targetry for the generation and study of high-repetition-rate ion beams using next-generation high-power laser systems, also enabling wider applications of laser-driven proton sources
- …